Not all the painting produced in France in the 1890s traced its lineage
to impressionism or had Cassatt's bold color and composition. This
portrait, for example, with its meticulous technique and careful attention
to texture and detail, seems almost anachronistic. The artist was an
intimate of the impressionists and avant-garde -- perhaps his most famous
work is a group portrait that includes Manet, Renoir, Monet, and Zola -- but
Fantin exhibited at the Salon and never abandoned his allegiance to the old
masters. Still, this portrait of Fantin's niece projects a different sort
of modernism. He approaches his subjects as a camera lens, sharpened to
such intense focus that it illuminates a preternatural reality beyond
appearance.